I have been struggling to choose a CPU for my next upgrade. I have a gigabyte 990FXA-UD3 and running right now a AMD 555 black edition. I unlocked it but ran into a major lock up while playing BF3 so I decided to lock it back to a dual core. Now, I want to move on to a true quad core or more and was looking at the FX processor. After reading many reviews, I am not convinced that an FX processor would be the best choice compared to the older Phenom II, but on the other hand, pricing is good and the FX CPU seems to be really great overclockers.

So is there anybody around with hands on experience with the FX? I am looking at the 4170 or 6100 at this point.

I have been struggling to choose a CPU for my next upgrade. I have a gigabyte 990FXA-UD3 and running right now a AMD 555 black edition. I unlocked it but ran into a major lock up while playing BF3 so I decided to lock it back to a dual core. Now, I want to move on to a true quad core or more and was looking at the FX processor. After reading many reviews, I am not convinced that an FX processor would be the best choice compared to the older Phenom II, but on the other hand, pricing is good and the FX CPU seems to be really great overclockers.

So is there anybody around with hands on experience with the FX? I am looking at the 4170 or 6100 at this point.

[quote name='Genesis1' date='02 May 2012 - 11:41 AM' timestamp='1335958873' post='1403361']
I have been struggling to choose a CPU for my next upgrade. I have a gigabyte 990FXA-UD3 and running right now a AMD 555 black edition. I unlocked it but ran into a major lock up while playing BF3 so I decided to lock it back to a dual core. Now, I want to move on to a true quad core or more and was looking at the FX processor. After reading many reviews, I am not convinced that an FX processor would be the best choice compared to the older Phenom II, but on the other hand, pricing is good and the FX CPU seems to be really great overclockers.

So is there anybody around with hands on experience with the FX? I am looking at the 4170 or 6100 at this point.
[/quote]

i put up few videos of what the cpu(fx-8120) can do, it's decent and can handle feeding two gtx 680's and record in full-size(around 4 gigs every 30-40 seconds) mode playing crysis with all ingame filters set to their highest possible settings and the fps capped(30 frames) in fraps never dropped while playing crysis. two issues i have so far is surround and 3d vision(they both are broken), nvidia sees like they didn't check if it works in the amd platform other than that the cpu runs great.

the youtube channel is called t3chngaming oh and i nearly forgot bf3(makes use of the extra cores) runs like a dream with the fx-8120 it's not a bad chip it just got bad reviews because amd hyped the hell out of it and underperformed to what they said it would be capable of.

I have been struggling to choose a CPU for my next upgrade. I have a gigabyte 990FXA-UD3 and running right now a AMD 555 black edition. I unlocked it but ran into a major lock up while playing BF3 so I decided to lock it back to a dual core. Now, I want to move on to a true quad core or more and was looking at the FX processor. After reading many reviews, I am not convinced that an FX processor would be the best choice compared to the older Phenom II, but on the other hand, pricing is good and the FX CPU seems to be really great overclockers.

So is there anybody around with hands on experience with the FX? I am looking at the 4170 or 6100 at this point.

i put up few videos of what the cpu(fx-8120) can do, it's decent and can handle feeding two gtx 680's and record in full-size(around 4 gigs every 30-40 seconds) mode playing crysis with all ingame filters set to their highest possible settings and the fps capped(30 frames) in fraps never dropped while playing crysis. two issues i have so far is surround and 3d vision(they both are broken), nvidia sees like they didn't check if it works in the amd platform other than that the cpu runs great.

the youtube channel is called t3chngaming oh and i nearly forgot bf3(makes use of the extra cores) runs like a dream with the fx-8120 it's not a bad chip it just got bad reviews because amd hyped the hell out of it and underperformed to what they said it would be capable of.

There are some reviews that compare the 6100 vs 4100 in games, and surprisingly the 4100 wins in some games by a frame or three.
I'm still using a PhneomII 965 @3.4GHz, and it does well paired with a GTX560ti. GTA4 is the only game that really pushes it - 80+ %, but it's the exception to the rule.
The main improvement with the FX series seems to be with memory management, but not in relation to games, from what I've seen in the reviews.
You are aware that you would also need a new MOBO with an FX cpu ?

yes it is overclocked to 4.3ghz i haven't really had the time to sit down and get into it to see how far it can go and on top of that(atm anyway) the m/b i got(msi 990fxa gd80) has an issue with the latest bios with the cpu vcore nerfed to 1.449 and i know it can go up to 1.9 it's just after the the release of the 11.6 bios it hasn't been the same.

[quote name='BossDweebe' date='02 May 2012 - 02:41 PM' timestamp='1335969716' post='1403430']
There are some reviews that compare the 6100 vs 4100 in games, and surprisingly the 4100 wins in some games by a frame or three.
I'm still using a PhneomII 965 @3.4GHz, and it does well paired with a GTX560ti. GTA4 is the only game that really pushes it - 80+ %, but it's the exception to the rule.
The main improvement with the FX series seems to be with memory management, but not in relation to games, from what I've seen in the reviews.
You are aware that you would also need a new MOBO with an FX cpu ?
[/quote]

edit: well that's weird i reply to you bossDweee and it includes it in my last post /blarg.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':/' />

yeah genesis1 has a mobo that supports the fx series the gigabyte 990FXA-UD3.

yes it is overclocked to 4.3ghz i haven't really had the time to sit down and get into it to see how far it can go and on top of that(atm anyway) the m/b i got(msi 990fxa gd80) has an issue with the latest bios with the cpu vcore nerfed to 1.449 and i know it can go up to 1.9 it's just after the the release of the 11.6 bios it hasn't been the same.

[quote name='BossDweebe' date='02 May 2012 - 08:41 AM' timestamp='1335969716' post='1403430']
There are some reviews that compare the 6100 vs 4100 in games, and surprisingly the 4100 wins in some games by a frame or three.
I'm still using a PhneomII 965 @3.4GHz, and it does well paired with a GTX560ti. GTA4 is the only game that really pushes it - 80+ %, but it's the exception to the rule.
The main improvement with the FX series seems to be with memory management, but not in relation to games, from what I've seen in the reviews.
You are aware that you would also need a new MOBO with an FX cpu ?
[/quote]

mine is a gigabyte 990FXA which is AM3+ and accept the FX. The bios is already updated to the F5 so I am ready for the FX CPU.

[quote name='Nchanten' date='02 May 2012 - 08:56 AM' timestamp='1335970603' post='1403433']
yes it is overclocked to 4.3ghz i haven't really had the time to sit down and get into it to see how far it can go and on top of that(atm anyway) the m/b i got(msi 990fxa gd80) has an issue with the latest bios with the cpu vcore nerfed to 1.449 and i know it can go up to 1.9 it's just after the the release of the 11.6 bios it hasn't been the same.

edit: well that's weird i reply to you bossDweee and it includes it in my last post /blarg.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':/' />

yeah genesis1 has a mobo that supports the fx series the gigabyte 990FXA-UD3.
[/quote]

hahaha, the mistery of the reply system :)

4.3 sounds good. I have an Antec 620 H2O cooling system which seems to work pretty well. I had my 555 at 3.6 and the idle temp was 23c and load 30c. Now that it is getting warmer, and I have not been running the AC full blast, I am at 26 idle and 37c load with an ambient temp of 23c :) So I am hoping that I will be able to maintain some low temps with the FX when using that antec khuler.

yes it is overclocked to 4.3ghz i haven't really had the time to sit down and get into it to see how far it can go and on top of that(atm anyway) the m/b i got(msi 990fxa gd80) has an issue with the latest bios with the cpu vcore nerfed to 1.449 and i know it can go up to 1.9 it's just after the the release of the 11.6 bios it hasn't been the same.

edit: well that's weird i reply to you bossDweee and it includes it in my last post /blarg.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':/' />

yeah genesis1 has a mobo that supports the fx series the gigabyte 990FXA-UD3.

hahaha, the mistery of the reply system :)

4.3 sounds good. I have an Antec 620 H2O cooling system which seems to work pretty well. I had my 555 at 3.6 and the idle temp was 23c and load 30c. Now that it is getting warmer, and I have not been running the AC full blast, I am at 26 idle and 37c load with an ambient temp of 23c :) So I am hoping that I will be able to maintain some low temps with the FX when using that antec khuler.

For around the same price as the FX 4170 you can get an [url="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103935"]OEM Phenom II X4 980[/url] which would easily be my choice. In just pure gaming performance the two will be barely separable, especially Battlefield 3 where the [url="http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/battlefield-3-graphics-performance,3063-13.html"]CPU makes close to no difference[/url], but in everything else the Phenom should pull ahead. Especially when overclocked, my previous Phenom II X4 955 was fantastic at 4.25GHz.

The Zambezi based chips aren't bad products, the Phenoms are just still a better choice in regions where they are still available.

For around the same price as the FX 4170 you can get an OEM Phenom II X4 980 which would easily be my choice. In just pure gaming performance the two will be barely separable, especially Battlefield 3 where the CPU makes close to no difference, but in everything else the Phenom should pull ahead. Especially when overclocked, my previous Phenom II X4 955 was fantastic at 4.25GHz.

The Zambezi based chips aren't bad products, the Phenoms are just still a better choice in regions where they are still available.

finally got a new CPU and got a deal on it. $80 for a 965BE C3 125 watts (brand new in the box, some guy picked up the wrong one). Could not pass on it so I am running it right now. Now, it seems that the stock vcore is high at 1.47... I never paid attention to it before because I was running a 555BE. I am doing some mild overclocking right now and was thinking that 3.6 ghz instead of 3.4 would be stable with the official stock voltage of 1.375... any thoughts on that?

Right temps have gone up from 26c at idle to 37c idle (room temp is 23c) and load is mid 40s to 50c with a khuler h2o 620. Seems high and I am thinking about going into the bios to set the vcore manually to 1.375.

finally got a new CPU and got a deal on it. $80 for a 965BE C3 125 watts (brand new in the box, some guy picked up the wrong one). Could not pass on it so I am running it right now. Now, it seems that the stock vcore is high at 1.47... I never paid attention to it before because I was running a 555BE. I am doing some mild overclocking right now and was thinking that 3.6 ghz instead of 3.4 would be stable with the official stock voltage of 1.375... any thoughts on that?

Right temps have gone up from 26c at idle to 37c idle (room temp is 23c) and load is mid 40s to 50c with a khuler h2o 620. Seems high and I am thinking about going into the bios to set the vcore manually to 1.375.

[quote name='Genesis1' date='08 May 2012 - 12:08 AM' timestamp='1336399688' post='1405234']
finally got a new CPU and got a deal on it. $80 for a 965BE C3 125 watts (brand new in the box, some guy picked up the wrong one). Could not pass on it so I am running it right now. Now, it seems that the stock vcore is high at 1.47... I never paid attention to it before because I was running a 555BE. I am doing some mild overclocking right now and was thinking that 3.6 ghz instead of 3.4 would be stable with the official stock voltage of 1.375... any thoughts on that?

Right temps have gone up from 26c at idle to 37c idle (room temp is 23c) and load is mid 40s to 50c with a khuler h2o 620. Seems high and I am thinking about going into the bios to set the vcore manually to 1.375.
[/quote]
There is no "official stock voltage" for a particular line of processors, only a range of voltages that a chip needs to operate in to be sold, know as the VID. For your Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition, as well as mine and any other retail 125 Watt 965 that range should be between 0.825 and 1.4 Volts. Keep in mind that this range is just what AMD has deemed worthy of selling as a 965, if they test a Deneb core that requires more than 1.4 Volts to operate at 3.4GHz it will be binned as a slower 3.2GHz 955 where it does fall into said voltage range. Also note that most people hold 1.55 Volts as the maximum safe voltage for Denebs, as long as you keep the core temperatures under 62 degrees.

For whatever reason your GA-990FXA-UD3 is reading the VID of your 965 incorrectly, most likely due to the 555 being previously in the system. Generally this can be corrected by manually setting the voltage to a value of your choosing, rebooting back into the BIOS and then setting the Vcore back to Auto. However, upon changing chips I prefer and recommend to reset all BIOS settings to their Fail-Safe Defaults, save and exit and then set everything as it should be.

As for overclocking your chip, if it is anything like the 965 and UD3 I put together for my grandfather you should be looking at 4GHz (250x16) at around 1.4 Volts and 4.25GHz (250x17) at about 1.425 Volts. Your results may vary but your end settings should be similar.

finally got a new CPU and got a deal on it. $80 for a 965BE C3 125 watts (brand new in the box, some guy picked up the wrong one). Could not pass on it so I am running it right now. Now, it seems that the stock vcore is high at 1.47... I never paid attention to it before because I was running a 555BE. I am doing some mild overclocking right now and was thinking that 3.6 ghz instead of 3.4 would be stable with the official stock voltage of 1.375... any thoughts on that?

Right temps have gone up from 26c at idle to 37c idle (room temp is 23c) and load is mid 40s to 50c with a khuler h2o 620. Seems high and I am thinking about going into the bios to set the vcore manually to 1.375.

There is no "official stock voltage" for a particular line of processors, only a range of voltages that a chip needs to operate in to be sold, know as the VID. For your Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition, as well as mine and any other retail 125 Watt 965 that range should be between 0.825 and 1.4 Volts. Keep in mind that this range is just what AMD has deemed worthy of selling as a 965, if they test a Deneb core that requires more than 1.4 Volts to operate at 3.4GHz it will be binned as a slower 3.2GHz 955 where it does fall into said voltage range. Also note that most people hold 1.55 Volts as the maximum safe voltage for Denebs, as long as you keep the core temperatures under 62 degrees.

For whatever reason your GA-990FXA-UD3 is reading the VID of your 965 incorrectly, most likely due to the 555 being previously in the system. Generally this can be corrected by manually setting the voltage to a value of your choosing, rebooting back into the BIOS and then setting the Vcore back to Auto. However, upon changing chips I prefer and recommend to reset all BIOS settings to their Fail-Safe Defaults, save and exit and then set everything as it should be.

As for overclocking your chip, if it is anything like the 965 and UD3 I put together for my grandfather you should be looking at 4GHz (250x16) at around 1.4 Volts and 4.25GHz (250x17) at about 1.425 Volts. Your results may vary but your end settings should be similar.

thanks for your comment found it very helpfull. I did drop the voltage to 1.4 (actually reads 1.392) and temps did drop a bit. I ran prime 95 quickly (torture test) and temp stay around 47c under load. So it does not look too bad. I will definitely change the thermal paste to artic silver. The only thing I had available was that cooler master thermal compound which does not appear to be the best.

So tonight I will go back in the bios and reset everything. Thanks again for your input.

In regars to your overclock, what temperature do you get under load at 4.2 ghz?

thanks for your comment found it very helpfull. I did drop the voltage to 1.4 (actually reads 1.392) and temps did drop a bit. I ran prime 95 quickly (torture test) and temp stay around 47c under load. So it does not look too bad. I will definitely change the thermal paste to artic silver. The only thing I had available was that cooler master thermal compound which does not appear to be the best.

So tonight I will go back in the bios and reset everything. Thanks again for your input.

In regars to your overclock, what temperature do you get under load at 4.2 ghz?

thanks for your comment found it very helpfull. I did drop the voltage to 1.4 (actually reads 1.392) and temps did drop a bit. I ran prime 95 quickly (torture test) and temp stay around 47c under load. So it does not look too bad. I will definitely change the thermal paste to artic silver. The only thing I had available was that cooler master thermal compound which does not appear to be the best.

So tonight I will go back in the bios and reset everything. Thanks again for your input.

In regars to your overclock, what temperature do you get under load at 4.2 ghz?
[/quote]
Arctic Silver 5 is a bit outdated now. It was the paste to get a few years ago but there are much better ones now such as [url="http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=productview&products_id=13&lng=en"]Noctua's NT-H1[/url] and [url="http://www.arctic.ac/en/p/cooling/thermal-compound/30/arctic-mx-4-4g-und-20g.html?c=2291"]Arctic Cooling's MX-4[/url].

I'd see how far you can get at 1.375 Volts as your starting point. Heat is quickly going to become your most limiting factor at unnecessarily high voltages and 1.375 Volts should get you damn close to 4GHz.

Temperatures at 4.25GHz on the Phenom II X4 955 were touching 60 degrees after a prolonged Prime95 test (about 20 hours). Keep in mind that I have a proper water cooling kit with a 240mm radiator as opposed to your 120mm LCS and my 990FXA-UD7 has rather horrendous vDroop so temperature results aren't really comparable.

thanks for your comment found it very helpfull. I did drop the voltage to 1.4 (actually reads 1.392) and temps did drop a bit. I ran prime 95 quickly (torture test) and temp stay around 47c under load. So it does not look too bad. I will definitely change the thermal paste to artic silver. The only thing I had available was that cooler master thermal compound which does not appear to be the best.

So tonight I will go back in the bios and reset everything. Thanks again for your input.

In regars to your overclock, what temperature do you get under load at 4.2 ghz?

I'd see how far you can get at 1.375 Volts as your starting point. Heat is quickly going to become your most limiting factor at unnecessarily high voltages and 1.375 Volts should get you damn close to 4GHz.

Temperatures at 4.25GHz on the Phenom II X4 955 were touching 60 degrees after a prolonged Prime95 test (about 20 hours). Keep in mind that I have a proper water cooling kit with a 240mm radiator as opposed to your 120mm LCS and my 990FXA-UD7 has rather horrendous vDroop so temperature results aren't really comparable.

ok, update the thermal paste with shin etsu x28 (whatever the name) and inverted one of the top 200mm fan. So know I have air coming in from the top and the other 200mm fan is doing a pull. Looks like better air flow and temps drop to 31c at idle and after playing Crysis 2 for a while temps was up to 42c under load with the CPU at 3.6 ghz (voltage at 1.4). So not too bad. I will drop the voltage by 0.25 tonight to see if I can maintain 3.6 ghz.

I am dealing with an ATCS 840 and the top two fans were getting the air out which did not appear very efficient. By changing the configuration I was looking into creating a "U" shape air flow and also provide more cool air the the Khuler 620, which appeared to have worked. I will do some more testing with prime 95. Prior to inverting the fans, temp went up to 61c, which felt too high so I turned off prime 95 at that point. On the previous test, I only ran one thread, but on four threads temps reach 61c.

ok, update the thermal paste with shin etsu x28 (whatever the name) and inverted one of the top 200mm fan. So know I have air coming in from the top and the other 200mm fan is doing a pull. Looks like better air flow and temps drop to 31c at idle and after playing Crysis 2 for a while temps was up to 42c under load with the CPU at 3.6 ghz (voltage at 1.4). So not too bad. I will drop the voltage by 0.25 tonight to see if I can maintain 3.6 ghz.

I am dealing with an ATCS 840 and the top two fans were getting the air out which did not appear very efficient. By changing the configuration I was looking into creating a "U" shape air flow and also provide more cool air the the Khuler 620, which appeared to have worked. I will do some more testing with prime 95. Prior to inverting the fans, temp went up to 61c, which felt too high so I turned off prime 95 at that point. On the previous test, I only ran one thread, but on four threads temps reach 61c.

cool lordred :) I could have bought the 960T but $80 for a 965 BE brand new, could not pass on it. Anyway, ran some more benchmarks and temps are good now. The new thermal paste is doing its job and temps remain at 41c under load after playing games for hours. So no complain on that. Other than that, I reach the max of my video card and will need another one to smooth things out at 5760x1080. Love playing on three monitors, the best gaming experience. Might haver to dig back my old GTR game :)

Lordred, let me know how far you could overclock it and temps for the FX, thanks.

cool lordred :) I could have bought the 960T but $80 for a 965 BE brand new, could not pass on it. Anyway, ran some more benchmarks and temps are good now. The new thermal paste is doing its job and temps remain at 41c under load after playing games for hours. So no complain on that. Other than that, I reach the max of my video card and will need another one to smooth things out at 5760x1080. Love playing on three monitors, the best gaming experience. Might haver to dig back my old GTR game :)

Lordred, let me know how far you could overclock it and temps for the FX, thanks.